Billy Long, Trump’s IRS nominee, pushed a tax credit that raises red flags, Sen. Warren says

Billy Long, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the IRS, is facing questions about his qualifications to lead the tax agency from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who serves on the Senate’s Finance Committee. 

While serving as a representative, Long, a Republican from Missouri and a former auctioneer, co-sponsored legislation that aimed to wipe out much of the tax code. After leaving office, he served as a tax adviser to businesses seeking to employ a controversial tax credit, the Employee Retention Tax Credit, or ERTC.

In her Jan. 9 letter to Long, Warren raises questions about Long’s tax expertise as well as his promotion of the ERTC, which has been flagged by the IRS for its high rate of fraud. Unlike other recent IRS tax commissioners, Long doesn’t have a depth of experience in the tax industry, nor does he have a degree in accounting or tax law. 

“[Y]our lack of significant management or tax experience — and your promotion of credits that have been “magnet[s] for fraud” — raise serious questions about your qualifications to lead the IRS,” Warren wrote in the letter, noting that the Senate Finance Committee will hold his confirmation hearing early this year.

The Trump campaign and Long didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a 2023 podcast, Long talked about his work with a firm called Lifetime Advisors, where he helped promote the ERTC to businesses, although Warren’s letter notes that the podcast appears to have been “pulled down from multiple podcast platforms, including the Listen Notes website, Apple, Spotify and YouTube.”

In the podcast, which CBS MoneyWatch listened to in December before it was taken down, Long said qualifying for credit was difficult during its first iteration, but that he helped make it easier for businesses to be eligible while he was in Congress.

“We went from having to say COVID adversely affected your business definitely, to taking that away, and you don’t have to prove that you had any downturn,” he said. “We’re doing recoveries for folks that had their best two years ever during COVID.”  

In the letter, Warren asks Long to provide information about his work with the ERTC, including whether any returns he had worked on claiming the credit have been challenged by the IRS. Among the senator’s other queries are whether Long directed anyone to pull down the 2023 podcast, and how he earned the designation of “certified tax & business adviser,” a term that he has used to describe himself on his X profile. 

“Although you bill yourself as a ‘Certified Business and Tax Adviser,’ this certification appears to only require a three-day training,” Warren noted. “There is no record of you on the IRS’ database of tax return preparers — a searchable directory that lists individuals who hold credentials recognized by the IRS — nor do you appear in the Missouri Board of Accountancy database.”